The Editor's Desk

read your article on NISSAN.. I never was treated so bad or cheated so bad as at my local Nissan dealer. and i will tell everyone who will listen for ever.

Now, with conviction I (CowasJee) will say that President Musharraf is not a vindictive man, but however camouflaged he remains a military dictator. He has managed to keep himself from becoming an insufferable despot ??? so far. He is certainly not a bigot at heart and believes in enjoying life, a gift of God. He would surely not wish to be remembered as a vengeful man
2007 will be remembered as a year of extremism. It was in this year that ???the extremists became very extreme???, to quote from the president of the PCO Republic. It was in this year that the extremists in Islamabad fired a long-distance, high-speed PCO missile that knocked out one???s own strategic assets such as the Constitution and the judiciary.
It was in 2007 that we became the only country in the world that suspended and ???house-arrested??? its own chief justice twice in the same calendar year. It was in this year that a militant legislation transferred all state powers to a single individual ??? perhaps the only person in the world who has a nuclear button in his pocket and whose constitutional amendments cannot be challenged.

Also in this year the political parties displayed unparalleled greed and spinelessness by legitimising extremely substandard PCO products like the PCO president, PCO judges, PCO PM and PCO Election Commission.

No wonder the Chinese calendar calls 2007 the year of the animal we do not like to talk about.

There is a growing realisation that years of inaction, silence and cynicism have only resulted in people being taken for a long ride. In a classic replay of Pastor Niem??ller???s famous lines, the home-made Nazis have already come for the judges, the lawyers and the media. A scary realisation that people must stand up and speak for themselves as there is no one left to speak for them.

What separates the civil from the uncivil society of Pakistan? One simplistic understanding would be that anyone who directly or indirectly was a party to the mutilation of the Constitution and launch of the draconian PCO, who took oath as a PCO judge, cut power deals with the US, tried to seek indemnity against past crimes, supported the military regime, accepted a position under this unconstitutional arrangement or granted legitimacy to these actions by taking part in elections is a part of the Uncivil Society. All others may prima facie be assumed to be part of the civil society.
They protest peacefully and lawfully against tyranny and injustice.